AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

The Crash of 1929

In the “roaring twenties,” while the stock market was rising, there were few critics. It was a “new era” when everyone could get rich. Wall Street leaders such as Charles Mitchell, president of the National City Bank (which would become Citibank), stock specialist Michael Meehan and Jesse Livermore, a Wall Street insider, found new ways to manipulate the stock market and grew incredibly wealthy, helping create the economic boom of that fabulous decade. Their success made them folk heroes of the day. The upward climb of the market seemed limitless. But in October 1929, the market plunged, taking with it the finances of the Wall Street titans and everyday investors alike. Philip Bosco narrates.